2002 Volvo s40 oil change

Lou_Reed · Post by **Lou_Reed** » 27 Jun 2014, 07:40

This may be a trivial question, but it is not for me.

I changed my oil from natuaral to synthetic last January. My first question is can
I ever so back to natural motor oil? I heard that once you have synthetic oil in'
your car you cannot go back to natural oil. Is this true?

The other question is how many miles does one have between oil changes when
using synthetic oil? I always though it was about 15,000 miles. My lube place set me a card
after only 6,000 miles urging me to change the oil now. That seems too soon.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Lou_Reed

Livens · Post by **Livens** » 27 Jun 2014, 13:48

You can switch back and forth no problem. You can even mix the two together with no worries. They are completely compatible with one another.

As for the change interval, 15k would be too long for me. I'll go 7.5k tops with sythetic, more if it wasn't for the turbo.

difflock54 · Post by **difflock54** » 27 Jun 2014, 21:50

Due to PCV problems and sludging in Volvo's it does not pay to extend oil and filter changes excessively.

6,000 - 7,5000 miles for modern full synthetic, as Livens suggested is about right but not more.
I am running semi synthetic in my V40 currently, 5W30 grade and intend to change the oil and filter at no more than about 5,000 miles (8,000km's)

2002S4019T · Post by **2002S4019T** » 09 Jul 2014, 16:00

I've been using Synthetic a long time, since 1984. and I really like it. One thing I've noticed it does is clean up the inside of the engine. Very noticeable on the cars I had with mechanical lifters that needed adjustment periodically but also on the S40 when I first bought it there was black gook in the oil filler which is now clean. But it does take time, about three years for the S40 and I think that first change to synthetic is going to get dirty quick. You may consider changing it at 3000 then 6000 and then 9 or12 if you feel comfortable with that.